Syria: Video shows devastating aftermath of helicopter air strikes

Video uploaded to social media on 29 December appeared to show the aftermath of heavy artillery shelling in Damascus, and aerial barrel bombing in Homs. Footage apparently recorded in rebel-held Douma in Rif Dimashq showed injured children being rescued by civil defence workers as another explosion took place.

UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were four Russian air strikes in the province but no reports of losses. President Bashar al-Assads regime forces bombarded areas of Daraya as clashes between their troops, and rebel and Islamist battalions in the area continued.

Footage purported to be shot in Homs showed a helicopter barrel bomb attack in al-Ghanto which killed 20 people, according to reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a child and a woman were among six civilian deaths in Tal Refat with others injured in what is believed to have been a Russian air strike.

Footage purporting to be from Tal Refat showed rescue workers assisting people who were trapped in debris following an air strike. 17 raids, believed to have been made by Russian planes, hit rebel-held areas.

Activists say Russian air strikes, in which missiles and bombs are launched from high altitude, are distinct from Syrian air force strikes which rely more on untreated barrel bombs dropped from helicopters flying at lesser height. Russian strikes tend to be more concentrated and precise, using several aircraft rather than the one frequently deployed by Syrias military. Residents say their munitions also leave deeper craters.